122 The Return of the Goblins (1/2)
”Heal!” Glows of radiant lights lit up the interior of the emergency trauma tentage. Medical personnel worked fervently on the wounded as they were brought out from the dungeon in an almost endless stream. Marines carrying stretchers were directed to different tents for different degrees of injuries, with the medics scribbling medical lingo on the foreheads of the wounded.
Dr. Sharon had immediately mobilized all her medical staff from the City to the scene when she saw the disastrous action inside the dungeon, knowing that her standby team of medical staff was not enough to handle all the casualties.
The miners and workers all also stopped their work and help transport the wounded to the medical area set up for treatment, while Dr. Sharon organized the rescue and medical teams. Platoon 2's remaining men fighting the silver mutated dragon had suffered one form of injury or another and most of it severe, while the two sections from Platoon 3 who reinforced the fight against the dragon also suffered heavy casualties.
Platoon 4 of Alpha Company were deployed to help medevac the wounded out of the dungeon while Platoon 1 stayed topside as security for the mining complex. Magister Thorn could be seen running around the medical tents, casting major healing spells on the more critically wounded to stabilize their conditions.
Five half-tracks with two of them painted with a red cross on their sides and the rest in darb navy grey rolled into the mining complex almost an hour later, carrying both medical staff and supplies to help with the wounded and all these activities were watched by hundreds of goblins armed with makeshift spears and bows in the distant forest edge.
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UNS Singapore, Captain's Office
”Blake,” Commander Ford barged into the Captain's Office with barely a knock.
”What's the problem?” Blake looked up from his computer, knowing that Ford rarely called him by his name unless something serious had happened.
”The Marine's Alpha Company has taken some serious casualties in the dungeon just minutes ago,” Ford reported, ”And that's not all.”
”How bad?” Blake asked back, ”Medical support?”
”Platoon 2 and half of Platoon 3 is effectively rendered non-combat capable,” Ford replied, ”That's almost 40% of the Alpha Company's fighting strength. Dr. Sharon was on site, she had used her authority to mobilized all available medical support over to the mines.”
”And you need to see this,” Ford gestured Blake to follow him.
”What is it?” Blake followed Ford out of his office and they headed towards the Bridge.
”Just two hours before Alpha Company's incident, recon flight by Dragon One Two picked up movement within the Goblin City,” Ford explained as they entered the Bridge. ”We launched an Owleye UAV to observe and this just came in.”
”Bring the UAV feeds on display 2,” Ford told one of the bridge crew who nodded and started tapping some keys.
An overview image of a large volcanic island appeared, ”This was imagery from 20 minutes ago,” Ford said and he pointed to a crescent shaped cove where dozens of dots could be seen. ”Zoom in there.”
The image zoomed in displaying a large cluster of ships beating out of the messy harbor, heading towards the exit of the cove. Ford changed the settings of the video to real time, and the image jumped to another view, showing a large flotilla of goblin ships heading towards shore. ”The computer analysis estimates they will hit the shore south west of us in nine hours.”
”Any reason or intel on where the goblins are acting up?” Blake asked as he mental tried to count the number of ships.
”Intel suspects that this is the annual migration fleet from the records of the elves,” Ford said. ”The goblins dig in for winter and during spring, they launch fleets to the mainland to keep their population down in Goblin City. Guesses are this is a way for Goblin City to not get overpopulated.”
”Damn, what're our forces current deployment?” Blake asked.
”Alpha Company is based at Seacliff Mining Complex, Bravo Company at Sawtooth Pass, Charlie is conducting search and destroy operations along the farms and logging camps north and northeast of the city,” Ford read off a list, ”And last of all Delta Company is at Camp Alpha, undergoing training with the First National Guard milita and having their rest and recuperation.”
”What's the landing zone of those goblin ships?” Blake asked as he rubbed his shaved chin in thought.
”Here,” Ford highlighted a location on the tactical map, ”The entire goblin fleet will land roughly over a stretch of 10 kilometers along the coast.”
”Intel says there are 273 ships of varying sizes, most common of all is the galley-sail configurations, numbering 191 in total,” Ford said, showing an image of a long rakish design with a low freeboard with two sails, a catapult at each end of the ship and rowers sitting in rows on each side. ”Intel is designating their estimated tonnage as a frigate type and call sign as 'Dagger' class. They also estimate a crew of roughly 180 to 250 manning the ship with cruising speeds of 6 knots per hour using both wind and rowing, and burst speeds up to 10 knots. It also mounts two to three primitive catapults.”
”The second most common type of ship observed is this,” Ford changed the image to another top view of a larger vessel. It had three sails and a higher freeboard, at least eight catapults could be seen on the top deck and what appeared to be a ram at the bow of the ship as it cleared the waves. ”It looks similar to an old Earth sloop of war, except the bow is straight with a ram underneath, it might have a single broadside of ballistas under the deck and Intel thinks it carries roughly 150 to 200 goblins. Intel classed it as a 'Sword' class destroyer. The goblin fleet has roughly 50 of these.”
”There is also another less common design seen here,” Ford switch the image to another, showing a image of a large twin-hulled galley. It looked like two galleys were clobbered together, with two sets of sails on each hull, and rowers on the side. ”This looks like their supply or troop transport. Intel guesses that it could hold roughly 400-600 bodies onboard and its call sign is 'Scabbard' a transport class, which the fleet has 11 of those.
”Finally the rest of the ships are mix of designs, most likely prizes captured from merchants fleets,” Ford highlighted the rest of the seagoing ships. ”The total number of goblins are estimated on the numbers of 40,000 to 50,000.”
Blake sat down on the command chair and played with the images in the display before saying, ”Put me through to Commander Tommy.” He told the comms operator.
”What's the readiness of the Airforce?” Blake asked when the call got through to Tommy.
”Our single heavyweight and one medium weight dragon are standing by at the airbase,” Tommy said, ”The other medium weight is being recalled back to base.”